I got to ski and see a some new parts of the Province this weekend. On Friday at Rogers Pass we skied the open slopes adjacent to the Lilly Glacier. Not deep, but easy untracked snow.

Stewart – Big Air in 108 Mile House.

Then a festive time at a wedding at the Hills Health Ranch in 108 Mile House. Not enough snow to utilize the XC ski-trails or the mini terrain park, but the tubing was fun.

Face-shots – Kamloops style.

We took the back road route from 108 Mile house, and checked out some of the local culture.

Stewart and Lula – Bonney Trees.

Back to Rogers Pass on Monday. Unfortunately I got harassed in the Loop Brook parking area by a proto-fascist goon from the Parks Service for ignoring their expanding violation of my freedom and dignity (aka the new winter permit system), and was compelled to a side trip to Park HQ before hitting the trail. We joined up with crew of keen local gals for a lap to the skiers left of Bonney trees. There’d been perhaps 10cm of new snow up high, and it was snowing heavily for part of the day, so the skiing was most excellent.

3 responses to “Road Trippin”

ooooo, pwned……
Wow, I can’t believe they restrict freedom by making people sign-in to a well used winter recreation area. I mean look at this quote – it could be from Italy circa 1941! Or Kim Jong Il could have written it!
‘Permit holders can only ski here on days when the area is posted as open, when there is no chance of artillery fire happening in the area.’

I believe that requiring people to sign-in, in order to access public land for backcountry recreation is an abuse of my freedom and sets an appalling precedent. Alternatively, improving the quality and availability of information would have empowered skiers to make better decisions. I don’t think the average person is a moron.

Expanding the special permit areas to include Bonney Trees, Grizzly shoulder, and Cheops trees will remove these key “safe” skiing zones from public use during times of high avalanche hazard, minimizing the theoretical liability of Parks Canada and the Ministry of Transportation (by expanding the margin of error on targets), whilst increasing the actual hazard to skiers (by limiting their safe and accessible terrain choices).

Parks Canada is just another “command and control” state structure that, rather than pursuing the “common good” seeks power over people. Protofacism is a merging of corporate and state interests and a simultaneous diminishment of individual freedom, responsibility and democracy. I don’t see much of a difference.